MOScout Daily Update: Fitz Warns on Budget - Faughn Buys Papers - End-of-the-Year MOScout Readers’ Poll and more…
Back by popular demand… the end-of-the-year MOScout Readers’ Poll. I’ll publish the results tomorrow.
Fitz Warns on Budget
Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick issued a warning to policymakers that the current budget trajectory will deplete the state’s reserve fund within years. Read the report here.
· Multiple years of significant deficit spending, and projected future deficit spending, threaten to eliminate all GRF surplus balances unless action is taken.
· Assuming FY 2026 expenditures remain unchanged and revenues grow at the rate of the latest CRE, the state will deplete the GRF balance in FY 2028.
· Failure to equalize revenues and expenditures could lead to emergency measures to control spending, up to and including emergency expenditure restrictions enacted by the Governor, with little warning to Missouri schools, hospitals, and other budget stakeholders.
What It Means
This is a big deal. Fitzpatrick is a serious official. He doesn’t chase cheap headlines. This warning will have a sobering impact on any new decision items in the budget next year.
Faughn Takes Reins of Tribune
Missouri Times’ Scott Faughn announced that he had acquired The Jefferson City News Tribune, Fulton Sun and California Democrat. “Our goal is to continue delivering the same high level of service while investing in the company’s long-term success.”
· It’s quite a journey for Faughn to be the boss at a paper that once voted to oust him from the Capitol Press Corp.
SCOMO Boots Thornhill
The Missouri Supreme Court, in a unanimous order removed Matthew Thornhill from his judgeship. He had been a circuit judge of the 11th Judicial Circuit.3
While media coverage has focused on his antics of wearing an Elvis wig, the dubbing him ‘the Elvis judge,’ the Supremes were sharp in condemning his politicking from the bench…
· Any failure to ensure courtrooms and the conduct of judicial business are – and are seen to be – absolutely free of political interests will inexorably erode the public's confidence in the judicial system and, therefore, the rule of law. It cannot, and will not, be tolerated…
· Judge Thornhill admits these violations but seeks to downplay them as merely "humorous" attempts… The Court finds no humor in a judge making comments in the courtroom about his party affiliation and which candidates in other races he prefers.
WAPO Notes MO Childcare Investments
Missouri gets a shoutout in this recent Washington Post article about childcare…
· The cost-sharing initiative was created out of two years of meetings with communities and data analysis led by Kids Win Missouri, a nonprofit. Its success leaned heavily on collaboration between business leaders, chambers of commerce and child care advocates, plus support from the governor, Republican Mike Kehoe…
· Demand for the program, called Child Care Works, has already outpaced the capacity of about 287 seats allowed by the $2.5 million in funding allocated by the state, said Brian Schmidt, executive director of Kids Win Missouri…
Why It Matters
Building on this, Governor Kehoe has touted childcare as one of his top priorities for the upcoming session.
AG’s Office Settles with NAACP
KQ2 reports that the “Missouri Attorney General’s Office has agreed to resume publishing the ‘disparity index’ with its annual vehicle stops report after reaching a settlement with the state NAACP.”
· The NAACP sued the attorney general’s office in May, alleging the office broke the law by not publishing the index in the yearly reports. The disparity index is a measure of how much drivers of a particular race or ethnicity are stopped compared to their white counterparts.
· Nimrod Chapel, president of the Jefferson City NAACP, said Monday that the attorney general’s office agreed to start publishing the index again, including adding it to the 2023 and 2024 reports.
Here Come the Police Drones
Missourinet reports that the “city of Blue Springs will soon be using drones as first responders.”
Police Chief Bob Muenz said it will help them get eyes on the scene faster. “To get there before the officers can get there,” he told Missourinet. “Our officer response time is anywhere from four to five minutes to an emergency call, depending on where they’re at, what they’re doing, etc. That drone can be on scene anywhere from 90 seconds to two minutes.”
· “So we can say the suspect (is) still at the scene,” Muenz said.
· He added that their goal is to have the first responder drones operational in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
New Committees
Nurse Practitioners Political Action Committee was formed.
$5K+ Contributions
Missouri Leadership PAC (pro-Riley) - $23,000 from Missouri Gaming PAC.
Missouri Leadership PAC - $14,500 from The Madison PAC.
TinaPAC (pro-Goodrick, House 11) - $36,000 from Fred Farris.
Conservative Justice for Missouri PAC - $5,100 from Missouri Soybean Association.
MIC PAC - $85,000 from Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (Boston, MA).
Ahlers for County Clerk - $10,000 from Jeff Ahlers.
Lobbyist Registrations
Angie Schulte added MoCann Trade.
Steve Tilley, Tom Robbins, Caleb Rowden, and Chris Schoeman added The Good Game.
Daniel Wahby added Eli Lilly & Company.
Thomas Nowacki added Missouri For Fair Housing; and deleted Greene County Commission.
Elizabeth Lauber deleted Bridging Families to Communities and Beyond/Saint Louis YouthBuild.
Dena Ladd deleted Silver Star Protection Group.
Jamie Oldani terminated his registration. She had lobbied for Eli Lilly.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthdays to Irl Scissors, Phil Wright, Tony Lovasco, and Jared Brown.
MOScout Schedule
Quick update tomorrow then off for the long weekend…